Live Musical Mistakes Can’t Be Undone

Steve Raybine:

Blog #28:

Live Musical Mistakes Can’t Be Undone

How many times have you made a mistake while practicing only to go back immediately and play the passage again in hopes of erasing the error? If you’re like most musicians, you have done this more times than you care to remember. By replaying the musical passage (even though you play it accurately the second or third time), does this ultimately erase the original error? NO, it does not! Unfortunately, the damage has already been done and replaying it won’t make it correct.

Many skilled musicians are perfectionists—they can’t tolerate mistakes, which in general, is a good thing. Although most musicians strive for musical perfection, it is rarely attained. I’m not sure what constitutes perfection anyhow, as it is completely subjective. However, if you obsess about your error(s), you will miss the greater picture, which is to keep the music flowing to the best of your ability and to continue playing as musically as possible.

The old adage, “How you practice is how you’ll play in a performance,” is relevant when discussing this issue. During your practice sessions, if you develop a habit of constantly stopping-and-starting with the intention of correcting your mistakes by immediately replaying the passage with the error, you’re conditioning your mind to focus only on the mistake(s) instead of the music. Ultimately, you do need to correct the passage(s) with the error(s), but this start-and-stop routine can become a bad habit if it continues for too long and can negatively impact your performance(s). Once any musician has made an error during a performance within the music, that musical moment is over, so move on. Don’t draw attention to the mistake by reiterating it--de-emphasize it and downplay it. In most instances, the audience won’t catch the mistake unless you do something to draw attention to it--like trying to replay the passage correctly.

Copyright 2006 Steve Raybine

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